Welfare biology is an emerging field studying how to improve wild animal welfare - identifying research priorities and securing funding is essential for its development.
Welfare biology research funding represents a high-leverage opportunity for animal welfare advocates. The field is young, underfunded and faces significant methodological challenges - but the potential welfare impact is enormous given wild animal population sizes. Priority research areas include: developing field-applicable welfare indicators for diverse taxa, assessing the feasibility and risks of low-intensity interventions, and understanding the scale and nature of suffering in different wild animal groups. The intersection of welfare biology with conservation biology creates both collaboration opportunities and tensions that research must navigate carefully. Supporting emerging welfare biology researchers and institutions is a high-impact donation opportunity.